AntiGrav
by Fairady
Summary: Some things simply had to be accepted when you joined Shinra.


Disclaimer: Don't own FFVII of it's characters. Also don't own a whole lot of money at the moment, because the Army pays for shit.

Warnings: Humor.

Notes: I must give credit where it is due, this little fic is entirely inspired by Ciceqi's Mascot universe. The whole hazing/duty thing just made a lot of sense when I thought about it. And her Zack is pure fluff. luffs Zack This whole piece was written solely for the last sentence/epilogue thing. Oh, and don't judge the Mascot series based on my own writing, Ciceqi is much, much better.

Anti-Grav  
by Fairady

-

-

He'd known that being in the Army wouldn't be easy. The amount of training he had to go through, and the tediously long yet somewhat dangerous missions were things that he had been expecting and been prepared for. Cloud had even been prepared for the vast time periods of utter boredom that made up seventy-five percent of a grunt's job. He didn't expect it to be easy at all, and that's what had helped him through his last week of training when the people in his class where dropping like flies.

He'd expected it, and thus was prepared for it. What he wasn't expecting was that training and missions weren't the only thing that wasn't going to be easy.

Cloud had been in his unit for two weeks and the hazing --and his inability to handle it-- was still a novelty to his new 'comrades.' Though the frequency of the pranks was beginning to ebb. The guys had slowly become more and more paranoid as Cloud continued to not react to anything. A betting pool was making the rounds through the barracks on just when the new kid would snap and start killing people.

It was a bit of a relief for Cloud, and he decided to not point out that the only person he'd kill if he did snap would be himself. That would make them worry in different ways now that he thought about it. And it didn't get him out of his current situation.

Cloud turned his head slightly, seeing the blurred form of his- superior? He wasn't really sure who the man was. All he knew was that his eyes glowed and, as the new guy, it was his job to escort any and all members of SOLDIER who showed up in the company area. A duty which, Cloud had quickly learned, included anything from being a tour guide to being a small yet fast moving decoy.

He was still rather proud of how fast he ran that day, and hoped he could use the memory of it to help him improve his scores at his next physical diagnostic.

"Hey, Strife! We need- uh, never mind."

Cloud didn't see who was speaking to him as they'd ducked out of sight when they'd seen the SOLDIER who was --Cloud glanced back again-- _still_ following him. He didn't dare check his watch to see how long the SOLDIER had been trailing him. He was passing the point where he was annoyed and starting to get creeped out by it.

It wouldn't be so bad if only the man would _say_ something. The man had ignored every awkward attempt at conversation Cloud had tried, and he was beginning to wonder if he needed to casually walk to the clinic and have the man looked at. He'd heard rumors about Mako enhancement, and it was common knowledge that SOLDIERs weren't quite right in the head.

Which didn't say much about Cloud's own-

A tug against his scalp made him freeze before spinning around. The SOLDIER drew his hand back and looked at a point just above Cloud's head, an almost comical look of disbelief and stunned horror on his face. Slowly, the man spoke for the first time, "It defies gravity."

Cloud blinked too shocked that the man had actually _said_ something, and utterly relieved when he left the barracks, to think about it. It wasn't until much later that he realized what had the man so fascinated. His hair --naturally spiky, dammit!-- had always been a point of teasing or fascination for others. Which made no sense to him since that SOLDIER's hair had been even spikier than Cloud's.

Giving up on figuring out the logic of the day, Cloud turned in to his bunk simply thankful the disturbing SOLDIER was gone.

Three weeks later Cloud, walking with Zack somehow physically _attached_ to his hair, wondered why he'd ever wanted Zack to _talk_ in the first place.

-

-


End file.
